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[Captor]

Hi
I am wondering if the soundcard in the PC is used when I have connect the PC to the DAC inside my CD-player by a USB-cable? Or is the signal going out from the motherboard?
I wonder because that means there is no pint in bying a better soundcard for the PC.

I am happy with my sound but it is time for a new PC. And with this information in hand I can decide if I should buy a expensive soundcard that not will be used anyway or a cheap/medium one.

I currently use the DAC inside the CD player Audionet Art G3. It seam to be a decent DAC.

[blgentry]

The sound card is not involved in USB connections to external DACs.  In theory you wouldn't need a sound card at all in your new machine if you only want to play to your USB connected DAC. 

Brian.

[Captor]

Thanks you very much, Brian.
And what about the different volume settings? Internal, system, application and disabled? If I use internal volume I can use the volume buttons on the keyboard. But this is still not by the soundcard?

[blgentry]

And what about the different volume settings? Internal, system, application and disabled? If I use internal volume I can use the volume buttons on the keyboard. But this is still not by the soundcard?

Internal volume uses JRiver's DSP engine in a 64 bit space to make changes to the volume of the track as it is sent to the DAC.  The sound card is not involved.

Disabled volume just doesn't allow any volume changes from within MC.

System volume is tied to your Operating System's volume controls. This is generally the worst option as the OS doesn't usually use a high quality method of doing volume changes.

Brian.

[Captor]

Brian, this is very helpful to me to learn about. I have been thinking about this a lot. Thank you very much!